


boobooble

by katrinawritesthings



Category: SHINee
Genre: Brotp, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-22
Updated: 2016-02-22
Packaged: 2018-10-21 03:32:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10676826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katrinawritesthings/pseuds/katrinawritesthings
Summary: the one where jong is crying in the bathroom and taem kinda just sits with himTaemin offers his hand; Jonghyun takes it and pulls it around his shoulders, leaning his head on Taemin’s and closing his eyes with a sigh.tumblr





	boobooble

This is so fucking embarrassing, Jonghyun thinks, as he pulls off another little square of toilet paper from one of the extra rolls in the cabinet. He folds it up, wipes his cheeks miserably, unfolds it, refolds it the other way, and then kind of just holds it in his fist for the next time he needs it. This is so fucked up. He doesn’t even know why he started crying, but one minute he was fine and finally dozing off with the rest of the boys at this sleepover and the next he was sneaking off to the bathroom at three in the morning before someone heard him trying to muffle his sniffles into the blankets. He’s really over this whole spontaneous weeping thing his body pulls on him. **  
**

He sniffles grossly, dabs at the run from his nose, and lobs the tissue across the bathroom and into the trash bin next to the toilet. At least when he’s done there won’t be any evidence to clean up. What doesn’t land in the garbage just lands in the water and he can flush it all away along with his dignity. He plucks another square from the cabinet and runs his fingers through his brown hair, gripping the strands and tugging just lightly. Grown-ass seventeen year old man and he’s crying in the bathroom at a sleepover, illuminated only by the dim nightlight plugged in under the mirror. This is so ridiculous. At least no one has seen--

He looks up with a start when the bathroom door suddenly opens right in front of him. Someone tall and gangly walks in, clad in a loose tee and Duck boxers, their nose in their phone and their black hair in their face as they flick the light on and take the first step in. Fuck. When they look up, they immediately notice Jonghyun sitting on a towel on the floor. Jonghyun stares back, eyes wide and still very very wet.

“Um,” they say. Jonghyun swallows thickly and closes his fist self-consciously around his little square of toilet paper.

“I thought… I locked the door,” he mumbles. They blink for a moment, then look at the door, and then back to him.

“You have to, um. Kinda lean on it. To get it to really close,” they say, and Jonghyun suddenly understands why he hasn’t recognized them as one of the other senior boys Jinki invited to the sleepover.

“You’re Jinki’s little bro, right?” he asks. Tae… Tae--Tae something. A sophomore, he thinks. They nod slowly, giving Jonghyun a confused look.

“Yeah, Taemin,” he confirms. “I sit next to you in algebra…?”

“You... _oh_.” Jonghyun almost says the exclamation loudly until he realizes that it’s the middle of the night. He kind of just whispers it heavily instead. He sniffles and then swallows again. “Yeah, yeah, sorry, I just,” he mumbles. “It’s not really one of my best classes.” A lot of the time he’s too busy being confused by literally everything to pay attention to his classmates. Taemin nods slowly in understanding, and then kind of just stands there, looking at Jonghyun. Jonghyun becomes very aware of the feeling of a tear sliding down his cheek.

“Um,” he says, lifting his toilet paper to wipe it away. “Sorry, um, did you want me to leave? I can--” he starts struggling to his feet, his knees stiff from being bent all this time.

“No, it’s um. You can stay,” Taemin says quickly. “I don’t. Have to.” He gestures awkwardly at the toilet; Jonghyun glances at it and then back at him with confusion. What is he here for then? He sinks back to the floor as Taemin shuffles to the cabinets under the sink, crouching down and opening the second one. “I kind of, uh, stash some things here,” he mumbles. “To hide them from Jinki.” He moves a bottle of unopened mouthwash and a box of dixie cups out of the way and reaches inside. When he pulls his hand out, he has a handful of something. “Um,” he says, turning to Jonghyun. “Jolly Rancher?” He offers Jonghyun a green candy; Jonghyun hesitates, wiggling his fingers.

“Watermelon?” he asks hopefully. Taemin looks in his hand, then reaches back into the cabinet. He digs in the bag for a little bit until he pulls out a pink candy, which he drops into Jonghyun’s hand. “Thanks,” Jonghyun says, unwrapping it slowly. Taemin nods, closing the cabinet just as slowly.

“Are you, um. Okay?” he asks. Jonghyun slips the candy into his mouth and doesn’t answer immediately. Obviously he’s not, but obviously Taemin doesn’t know how to deal with it. Jonghyun doesn’t really see a way out of this other than blatantly lying. Hopefully Taemin will pick up on it and leave him alone to finish crying in peace.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he says, looking for the dry half of his tissue and wiping a tear away before it falls.

“Mm...hmm,” Taemin hums. He unwraps his own candy and sucks it into his cheek. “Do you want me to, maybe, hold your hand, until you feel, like, _super_ okay?” Jonghyun watches as he tries to throw his candy wrapper into the garbage can and misses by a mile. He wants to say no, this is embarrassing enough already, but if he’s being honest, he would love a snuggle right now. If Taemin is offering, he’s gonna take it.

“Yeah,” he says quietly. Taemin nods and lifts up to his feet. While he closes the door and flicks off the big light, Jonghyun pulls out another fluffy towel from the cabinet for him to sit on. He places it next to him and watches silently as Taemin lowers himself down and wiggles himself comfortable. Taemin offers his hand; Jonghyun takes it and pulls it around his shoulders, leaning his head on Taemin’s and closing his eyes with a sigh. He’s nicely warm, if a bit too bony to be entirely comfortable. Taemin says nothing about the position and just tugs him a little closer instead. With his other hand, he unlocks his phone and goes back to whatever game he was playing before.

Jonghyun cracks his eyes open for a few moments to match the quiet music with an image before he lets them slide shut again. This is nice. No judgement. He wipes away another tear track and sets his folded up tissue next to him so he doesn’t throw over Taemin. He sniffles softly and wiggles closer to Taemin so their sides press together. He kind of smells like sweat, but also like candy and laundry detergent. Could be worse. Jonghyun likes the way his thumb is gently swiping over his shoulder, sometimes just slipping under the strap of his tank top.

It’s some number of minutes that they just sit in comforting silence like that, only broken by Jonghyun’s sniffles, until Taemin jerks minutely and then hisses a heavy curse. Jonghyun opens his eyes again to see Taemin dropping his phone into his lap with a huff. “Try Again?” blinks at him from the screen. Somehow Jonghyun’s lips manage a small grin watching Taemin just exit out of the game.

“Can I ask why?” Taemin asks softly then. Jonghyun shifts to be able to look him in the eye; Taemin looks back at him evenly, deep brown eyes curious but calm. Jonghyun shrugs and looks back down.

“This is just something that happens sometimes,” he mumbles. Taemin hums an understanding noise and focuses on his phone again. Jonghyun appreciates his easy acceptance. They sit like that for another long while, another few squares of toilet paper. Jonghyun thinks he’s used at least a fourth of the roll. It’s comfortable and comforting and Jonghyun thinks that this really could have been worse. He doesn’t think Taemin is going to tell the whole school about this at all. He couldn’t have asked for a better snuggle buddy.

Eventually, he sniffles and brings the tissue in his hand up only to realize that it’s already used. He grumbles quietly to himself, dropping it in the pile and reaching into the cabinet for a new one. It’s then that he feels it: A soft, warm brush of lips against his cheek. His breathing stops, his eyes widen, his fickle heart almost flutters, and then there’s the soft, warm brush of something wet against his cheek and all of that goes out the window.

“Ugh. Fuck.” Jonghyun turns incredulously to see Taemin shaking his head, scrunching his face and smacking his tongue like he just tasted something gross.

“Did you just… lick me?” he asks slowly. Taemin winces and pulls open another candy to shove in his mouth.

“I didn’t--mean to,” he says after a moment. “Like, I was trying to comfort you and be, like, romantic or whatever, but then it just happened, and. Bluh.” He shivers a little bit and moves the candy around in his mouth enough for Jonghyun to hear it clicking against his teeth. It’s so ridiculous that it pulls a short, breathy laugh from his chest.

“You were trying to romance me while I was crying in my underwear in your bathroom at three in the morning?” he asks. Taemin looks at him blankly for a moment. His cheeks turn the faintest shade of pink.

“Um,” he says. “No, if, um. If that was not an appropriate thing to do, at this time, then, uh, no. Definitely not. Ha ha. Want another candy?” He shoves a pink candy unceremoniously under Jonghyun’s nose. He also rustles the wrapper to hide the way his voice cracked at the end of his question. Jonghyun looks at him, then takes it with a shrug and the tiniest of grins. He sticks it in the pocket of his boxers for later and turns again to the cabinet to finish his quest for a new piece of toilet paper. This time he wipes both his tears and Taemin’s spit off of his cheek.

He thinks he’s almost done, almost all cried out by now. He sits quietly for another few minutes just to make sure. This time, he tries to give off the same calming vibes that Taemin has been giving him this entire time, to let him know that he’s not offended or anything. He thinks it works; after a little bit, the tenseness in Taemin’s shoulders relaxes back down to normal. Nice.

A quick glance at Taemin’s phone tells Jonghyun that it’s almost four in the morning. Taemin must be a regular night owl to not even seem overly tired right now. Jonghyun sniffles what he’s pretty sure is his last sniffle, wiping his cheeks with his final square and adding it to his little pile. Taemin hums curiously when Jonghyun wiggles to sit up straight and rolls his shoulders.

“I think I’m okay now,” he says. “Like. _Super_ okay.” He quirks his lips in a grin that Taemin matches once he remembers the reference.

“Good,” he says. Jonghyun nods and rubs his palms into his red eyes, then brushes his fingers through his hair a few times. Gathering up all of his used tissues, he stands up on wobbly legs to dump them into the garbage can. When he turns around, Taemin is casually brushing dust off of the towels and tossing them back into the cabinet for someone else to use.  He snorts, but shakes his head when Taemin turns questioning eyes on him.

“Uh, thanks,” he says, a little awkwardly. He fixes the hem of his undershirt for lack of something else to do with his hands. Taemin shrugs back easily.

“No problem,” he says. Jonghyun smiles a little wider for a second.

“See you… in the morning?” he asks, voice rising at the end because he’s not entirely sure. He thinks Jinki has kind of exiled his little brother to their room for the party. He doesn’t know if Taemin is going to join the rest of them for breakfast. Apparently, though, Taemin knows full well, because he snorts and nods quickly.

“Jinki wants to make waffles for you all tomorrow but it’s _my_ wafflemaker,” he says. “He _has_ to let me come embarrass him in front of all of his Big Cool Senior Friends.” He grins like a shit and Jonghyun finds himself muffling a little giggle into the back of his hand. He thinks Taemin’s barely a year and a half younger than all of them.

“Alright then,” he says, slipping to the door and opening it up as quietly as possible. “See you in the morning.” He holds it open for Taemin to leave first; Taemin smiles and slips passed without brushing against him.

“Goodnight,” he says, and creeps down the hallway to the first door on the left. Jonghyun smiles at the door as he passes it on his way back to the jumble of sleeping boys on the living room floor.


End file.
